The Euphoric Nature of Fresh Produce

Food has the peculiar quality of being influential in almost any aspect of human development. Aside from the obvious biological aspect, what we eat can play a huge roll in who we become mentally, influencing us for good and bad. Today, a disturbing lack of regard has surfaced towards what we in the first world will consume and, though definitely not the only culprit, America seems to lead the way. Fast food outlets have pervaded almost every large town and in the home-prepackaged goods are consumed with abandon.

Personally, I consider myself to be a “foodie” and at university often times I find myself appalled by the quality of our meals. Though one could counter my distaste by reminding me how fortunate I am compared with the majority of the world’s population, I don’t believe that would constitute a relevant argument. I have spent my fair share of time in the developing world and seen much worse BUT at the same time I have seen much better and know that it would not be too hard to prepare something palatable for us, especially when taking into account the amount we pay for the privilege of eating lines of cooked-to-death hamburgers, piles of greasy pizza and hunks of unidentifiable meat. We are students in AMERICA, historically a land of opportunity and drive yet the watery cabbage and bean soup we eat suggest more Slovakian prison than New Hampshire College. At the end of the day, food is obviously not a huge priority for those in charge and yet we are expected to perform well in class and have enough energy left over to play sports or take part in extracurricular activities.

Ok, I’ll agree that maybe I’m idealistic in the extreme and have no comprehension of running of viable university cafeteria. If I was to relinquish my claim that our food is needlessly crap, I would hang onto but one small annoyance. Standing in line for the school salad bar, or rummaging through the piles of apples and oranges I am foiled in finding good food even there. The lettuce is either soggy or crunchy with ice, the carrots are the tiny type sprayed to death with chemicals and the one time I saw a peach it was like steel grapeshot.

Now, compare that with the produce found at a Spanish market like the one in my adopted hometown of Cadaques. Before I continue though, I must quickly say that although bias towards Europe and most things European or foreign I am not oblivious to my home continents failings. I see our rising debts, our immigration problems, our huge desire to be American and the other shortcomings that we share with almost everywhere else today. I know we are definitely not perfect but mainland Europeans undoubtedly know about food, having improved and tweaked their knowledge for thousands of years. Though Starbucks, KFC, McDonalds and dozens of other chains have crossed the Atlantic and now lie in almost as many European streets as American, food is still relished in many places here.

Anyways, walk up the concrete drainage tunnel that serves to hold the local Cadaques market every Monday and the food stalls come into view behind the pirate C.D shops. Piles of fresh apples, peaches, grapes, mushrooms, tomatoes and garlic sit beside plastic vats of olives and legs of cured ham. The fruit is picked nearby and very ripe, so that eating a peach you get the sticky juice and pulp over your fingers. True, most is not organic but still, it has to be said that even sprayed with chemicals it is a world away from iced lettuce and soggy tomatoes. If the school could at least find me some fresh fruit and veg. I would shut up instantly and never complain again. Even just give me permission to go out into the fallow land by the schools water tower with a spade, some seeds and enough fencing to keep the deer away and I would try to at least plant and grow some addition sustenance. The food mentioned above and photographed below is enough to make me happy for a long time.

Now, I am on occasion a realist and I understand that there is little chance of my dreams turning into reality. Either the administration would be too stingy or even more worrying, perhaps most students would actually prefer the current university cuisine to anything I would consider remotely edifying. What I would say though, is that they should take a look at the photos I've posted below, imagine the real thing then tell me that we shouldn’t at least ask for something remotely resembling this. Just because we are students DOES not mean a healthy and yet amazingly good option should be denied us.